Samsung 15" Series 9 NP900X4C with Ivy Bridge CPU

Quick question guys,

Has anyone had any luck getting replacement screws for the 900x4c? As in the 10 that are located on the back of the unit.

I have a few that are worn down and getting to that risky stage where they might end up being screwed in permanently.

I did find this 6001-002784 - SCREW-MACHINE

but the price for shipping internationally is about $40 which is a joke for a bunch of screws.

Any advice would be great.

Cheers.

 

Also, has anyone else got a really loose screen. As in when typing you get a bit of a wobble from the screen. I'm presuming the hinges have worn a bit (they were never really holding it that strongly) and I was looking at changing them for these Samsung NP900X4C-A01AU LCD Hinges - $50.00 : US PC Parts, Professional PC Parts Supplier

Has anyone else attempted this? It's strange because my father has the exact same model and his screen holds quite firmly, which is what I'm after.

 

I would first take the bottom off the computer and check that the screws securing the hinges are completely tight. This will also help you to figure out whether the looseness is within the hinges themselves or where they are fixed. My X4C's hinges are still good after nearly 2 years.

While it is easy to see how the hinges fix to the chassis, I'm unclear about how they fix to the display and how easy it is do the replacing without damaging the bottom part of the display bezel.

John

 

After I installed Windows 8.1 I can't control the brightness of my display.
The version of the driver in the SW Update is older than the one I have so I can't install it. Also, if I try to download and install the driver directly from Intel I get an error saying that I should get the driver from the manufacturer.

Anyone already solved this problem? Any idea where I could find another version of the driver?

Thanks!

 

1. Did you try to reinstall Settings or install a newer version of Settings (not necessarily one listed for the X4C - it's a generic program).

2. Use the Find Model facility in SW Update to look for newer Intel graphics drivers for the X3C / X3D / X3E / X3F / X4C / X4D (I'd start with the X3E / X3F since they are newer releases).

John

 

CRACKS

Anyone else notice cracks on the hinge bracket that connects the laptop main body with the screen? I travel a lot but take very good care of the my Samsung S9, but a few months ago I noticed a tiny crack on the LHS near the power indicator light and then a few weeks later a much larger crack started to propagate on the RHS near the power button.

Unfortunately out of warranty so I can't return, and they are relatively tiny so no big aesthetic problem, just wanted to share my experience.

 

I wonder whether the screws fixing the hinges have become loose and the movement this allows is causing the hinge cover to flex. I think the cover is only plastic (it's covering the WiFi antennae) and is not structural.

I would remove the base and check that the screws holding the hinges to the chassis are tight. Whenever I have the bottom off any of my notebooks I check that all the screws inside are tight. I think I was able to slightly tighten the hinge screws.

John

 

Hi,
I'm sorry if this has been already asked and answered before, not reading the forum since a long time.
I own an NP900X4C-01IT model and I'd need to upgrade the RAM from actual 8 Gb to 16 Gb. Is this feasible?
If it is, could you point me to an appropriate and good working RAM set?
Thank you very much.

Edit: I just went one page back and saw this:

I'm running BIOS P07AAC 18/11/2013 on Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.
Will give that RAM set a try or do I have to look at something different?
Thanks

 

Someone tested an early NP900X4C with 16GB RAM.

However, a BIOS update around the end of 2012 made the X4C fussy about the type of RAM it will accept (Book 8 owners have suffered from the same bug which Samsung haven't fixed).

You will have to hunt through the Book 8 thread to find out what may work (I remember someone mentioning a specific Kingston module) but you would be well advised to buy the RAM from somewhere that will give a refund if the RAM doesn't work in your X4C.

John

 

In case it helps someone:

- I have a Series 9 NP900X4C-A01UK
- BIOS version Phoenix P06AAC

and I very recently upgraded the memory (to 16GB) and SSD drive (to 512GB) in the laptop with the following components:

- Crucial 8GB DDR3 1600 MT/s CL11 SODIMM 204 Pin 1.35V/1.5V Memory Module
- Crucial CT512M550SSD3 512GB M550 mSATA Internal SSD

It was a very simple swap out. The hardest bit was that some of the 10 screws under the laptop were overly tight.

The new hardware is working perfectly for me. (OS is Debian Testing)

 

I'm intrigued. A long time ago I had put the 2 x 4GB version of that RAM (part # CT51264BF160B) into my X4C but when I updated the BIOS to P06AAC the computer appeared to be bricked until I replaced the RAM with the original Adata modules. However, it is evidently happy with your 8GB modules.

How are you finding the power consumption with the M550 SSD? I had found that the 480GB M500 to be a little power hungry.

John

 

Has anyone experienced this before?

I have the adaptive brightness enabled, and just today, my screen started spazzing out. Periodically, the screen will start ramping up to maximum brightness, only for a few milliseconds, then return to the set point (so it never actually reaches max brightness). It gives the screen a "breathing" effect. It's very strange and distracting... I'm wondering if a recent Windows update might've done something to it.

 

Hi supertoast,

I don't remember reports of this -- partly because most other members quickly disable Adaptive Brightness in order to better control it themselves.

What happens if you deliberately cover the light sensor with your finger or shine a light on it? Does it behave as expected?

 

Hi,

I did see your reviews before I purchased the SSD. Thanks they were very informative. After reading them, I was worried about the heat that the new SSD may produce more than its power usage since my daily laptop usage rarely causes the fans to kick in. (I have it on a stand which keeps the bottom ventilated)

Also, I went through every post I could find about upgrading the memory modules to 16GB. The BIOS compatibility issues people had with 1.35v modules also worried me. In the end, I checked my BIOS version was old enough to not be affected by the latest Samsung changes and I took a risk that the modules may work.

I've not yet tweaked the OS for power usage and so I don't know how power hungry the new SSD is. Am still setting it up. Will get to installing powertop and the power management packages later on this week.

Here are some useful links for people setting up Linux on the Series 9:

- Everyday with Linux: Samsung NP900X4C and Fedora 17

- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w5qS85WdLQK5r_fxl6qzNW3W4gFx4F5I4gy6ugLrbDQ/edit?pli=1#heading=h.p4604wf1090c

Regards,
JC

 

Yes, covering the sensor minimizes the brightness. It only flashes once every minute or two. I'll keep an eye on it for another week, and see if it continues to do this. I've done a battery disconnect to see if it might've been an ACPI goof-up, but no avail. (Also, I'm not on a subway or anything with flashing lights going by, which would make the laptop's weird response understandable! )

 

Somewhere in these 242 pages of comments are notes about connecting the laptop to a high-res display. It took me some doing so I thought I'd post my experience. I've had an NP900X4D (Windows 7) for two years and love it. I wanted more screen at work so I bought a Lenovo Thinkvision LT3053P, a 30-inch display with native resolution 2560x1600. I connected the two via HDMI and used these instructions to create a custom resolution. Several failed experiments later, I found success with 2560 x 1600 at 50 Hz, 32 bit color, and CVT-RB timing. (51 Hz "exceeds maximum bandwidth" and 30 Hz is out of bounds for the display.)

Everything just works with these settings, though I had to disable HDMI audio so Windows wouldn't default to it. A few sample Youtube videos show no performance problems. I haven't tried any games; my main use for this display is software development.

 

Thank you for this information.

The micro-HDMI port specification indicates support only up to 1920 x 1080 resolution although some NP940X3G users had used higher resolution displays by using a custom resolution. I don't recall anyone trying this on the NP900X4C so it is useful that it works (and presumably also for the NP900X4D and the NP900X3C/D, possibly the NP900X3B).

John

 

Today suddenly Wi-Fi stopped working, said connection was limited. Tried troubleshooting, nothing happened. Did a restart, then "Networks" pane said No connections are available. As I was thinking I should refresh my PC anyway in the near future, decided to back up my stuff and do it today. So, now I have refreshed PC (should be clean as a whistle) and still no connections are available. Did "Remove everything and reinstall Windows" because I had nothing to lose. Still can't connect to any network.

Wifi Network adapter isn't shown on Control Panel/Device Manager etc. No connections are available. Other devices work well. Tried to install latest drivers from Intel Download Center, but no difference.

Did my Wifi Adapter died? What should I check/do next?

 

Maybe you accidentally hit Fn-F11 which toggles Airplane Mode and disables the WiFi adapter (Bluetooth too). You can check somewhere in the Charms-Settings-PC Settings menu hierarchy and see if Airplane Mode is ON. If so, turn it OFF.

If it's NOT Airplane Mode, and the adapter doesn't show in Device Manager, I am starting to think the adapter blew or the adapter cable may have come loose. I don't think I remember other reports of that, though.

 

Airplane Mode is OFF ofcourse. I'm sorry I forgot to mention it. Opened up my laptop and checked the Wireless adapter.. everything atleast felt correct. Used compressed air to clean everything etc but after reboot no change.

Edit: Unfortunately ethernet dongle isn't with me, so I can't try that. Was there some kind of all-drivers-CD with the package when I purchased it? Is it uploaded somewhere?

 

First try turning the card off in Settings, wait a minute then turn it on again. It might reappear if the setting in the NVRAM has got confused.

Otherwise i does look as if something died. However, before signing the death certificate I would shut down and unplug the machine, do the battery disconnect, remove the base and remove the WiFi card. Then start the computer without it (booting into the BIOS would be enough). Then shut down, unplug etc and put the WiFi card back (connecting the antennae cables can be fun ) and start again. There's a small chance that the computer might rediscover the Wifi card.

John

 

Can you specify what you mean about turning the card of in Settings? When I open up Device Manager or Wireless adapters there is no wireless adapter mentioned. Only wired connections.

Can any of the users point me to direct drivers which for-sure work? I may try to refresh my laptop again and try different drivers perhaps. Hoping it to be software issue rather than hardware.

 

Got it. It was worth checking Airplane mode.

John's suggestion (a good one) to try toggling the adapter, refers to Samsung Settings (Fn-F1) where you should find a Wi-Fi tab under Network. It may vary depend on your Settings version.



Toggling it OFF then ON in there could conceivably bring the adapter back to life. As long as it doesn't show up in Device Manager, installing drivers won't matter. But once it does, you can use the thread linked below for advice on drivers and other tweaks.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/727499-wifi-remedies-samsung-laptops.html

 

Settings should have several tabs on the Network page: I can see WiFi, Wireless (which is actually Bluetooth), Wired and Mobile AP. The older Easy Settings (Windows 7) has separate menu entries for Wireless and Wired network.

If you aren't seeing the option anywhere then it means that Settings is not seeing the hardware. You could try reinstalling Settings since it should probe the hardware irrespective of whether the Airplane mode is enabled and the adapter turned off.

The last resort before buying a new WiFi card is trying to reset the NVRAM as discussed in this thread.

John

PS: Dannemand responded while I was preparing mine.

 

Something is out of whack. It's usually the other way round

Edit: And yes, re-installing Settings is another good suggestion. Make sure to redo the various power settings and other tweaks whenever Settings is re-installed:

 

Thanks for clearing the Settings part. I thought the same, but went with the gut that there are some other settings. Anyway, opening Samsung Settings and Networks tab it only shows "Wired" part. There is no Wi-Fi or Hotspot/Mobile AP tab available.

 

Got it. So you can try re-installing Settings as suggested or the NVRAM clearing (kind of deep surgery). Otherwise I am afraid evidence increasingly points to a defect WiFi adapter.

 

I've just updated the X4C that came with Windows 8 to 8.1.

The notebook survived the update without any obvious problems. However, I discovered at the end of the updating process that it had a new version of Settings that didn't support the Battery Life Extender. So I uninstalled it and then installed the most recent version of Settings offered for the notebook.

I repasted the CPU with Arctic MX-4 and it seems to be running cooler and quieter. The computer has gone off to a new home (but still within the family).

John

 

Hi John,

I would love a new Win 8.1 version of settings that enabled access to Battery extender without a reboot to bios - I have tried to find one without success.

 

Later versions 2.0.x of Settings are actually just like that, and DO work with Win8.1. After Microsoft updated the initial 8.1, the incompatibilities with Settings were solved. Settings versions 2.1.x and newer are the ones that don't have BLE, ExpressCache etc.

In SW Update, if you download Easy Settings 2.0.0.89 under Win7 drivers for model NP930X5J, there is a Win8 folder inside containing Settings (for Win8.x). I assume it has BLE, but I haven't tested it.

Edit: I just found this post which has the details you need.

 

I tried 2.3 something, no luck. 2.0.0.89 worked fine - just installed - didn't test individually the Win7 or Win8 installations. Now I have battery extender - Yay!

 

Great! I assume you downloaded Easy Settings 2.0.0.89 under model NP930X5J, then installed Settings from the Win8 folder inside that package. Or are you saying you just ran the main installer from that Easy Settings package and it installed Settings (detecting that you are running Win8.x)?

 

I just uninstalled previous version, and ran the installer for 2.0.0.89, and I didn't even have to redo my adaptive brightness.

 

That's nice. Usually you need to redo those power settings. But we're not complaining

 

My series 9 seems to be running slow recently. Perhaps it's due to the 4gb ram as i run multiple tabs on chrome while downloading torrents.

Should i reformat the entire laptop, or are there any suggestions?

 

I wonder if the SSD is getting tired. Which model / capacity of SSD and how full is it? Once it fills up then the garbage management can't work effectively. Run CrystalDiskMark and post the result here so we can compare it with others.

Reformatting the drive might improve performance but you will need a full backup because the recovery partition will be lost. Investment in a size bigger SSD will probably transform the performance - they have gradually become more affordable.

Is yours the 15" Series 9 (which normally has 8GB in two RAM slots) or the 13.3" with 4GB of soldered RAM?

John

 

But first, make sure you didn't accidentally enable Silent Mode, which will cap the CPU to its lowest speed. In [Easy] Settings (Fn-F1) you want Silent Mode set to OFF, not AUTO.

Lots of users fall into that trap, so it's worth checking.

 

Thanks Dannemand,

I've felt my laptop being a bit sluggish lately, and yes....
Silent Mode was enabled.

Per

 

I have the 13.3. You're right, my ssd had 2gbs left. I deleted a good 20 gb and my laptop runs better now.

Here are my CrystalDiskMark

 

Those speeds are still quite low. See some more CDM results here and here.

A new SSD would double your read speeds and potentially improve the 4k write speeds by an order of magnitude (the 4k results are more representive of real life with multiple programs trying to use the SSD at the same time). The performance improvement would be like getting a new notebook. If you have the Sandisk U100 SSD the 4k write performance was poor, even when new.

John

 

I seem to be having an issue with my brightness again all of a sudden. It's not the same as last time - this time, the brightness sliders are completely missing under Power Options, and I cannot change brightness at all. (Stuck on full brightness.)

I have tried reinstalling both the Intel Graphics HD4000 driver (v. 10.18.10.3304), the "Win 8.1 Brightness Patch," and Settings (v. 2.0.0.72), and have even tried the battery disconnect reset. Something must be bugged with the OS/drivers if I can't even change the brightness manually!

It was working just fine last night when I closed the lid on my laptop, but when I woke it back up this morning, the display was at full brightness, and I could not adjust it at all. Then I discovered the brightness settings completely missing. There is still a slider under the Win 8.1 charms menu, but moving it has no effect on the brightness.

Has anyone else seen this, or know how I might be able to fix?

 

Some thoughts:

Is that graphics driver from Intel or from Samsung? You might need to have Samsung's version of the graphics driver for the interaction with the brightness control in Settings to work.

Have you tried adjusting the brightness in Settings rather than via the Fn key control?

As fall-back is there a default brightness control in the BIOS? (I can't remember).

Do you have the P**AAC BIOS or the P*ABK BIOS? The former has questionable compatibility with Windows 8 / 8.1.

John

 

Hi John:

Thanks for the reply.

This is the driver off of the SW Update program, so hopefully it's Samsung's!

The thing is, the slider doesn't even appear under the control panel's Power Options:



I don't think there is, but will check to see if so.

I'm running P10ABK.

Edit: Shouldn't there be options for brightness here?



Edit edit: Well, now I have solutions to two different display issues! This one was really strange - thanks to this source, I tried uninstalling the monitor (not display adapter) driver, including checking the "uninstall driver software" option, and then scanned for hardware changes. The screen then immediately dimmed, and I had my brightness settings back. That was a strange one - hope this might help others.

 

Thanks for the fix. I don't recall previously reading about that problem / solution.

John

 

@supertoast92: Me too, first time I've seen that fix. Thanks a lot for sharing.

 

No problem. It's the first time I've ever encountered such a problem. The weirdest thing was I made no software or configuration changes before it happened, and the only thing the machine could've done was enter hibernation mode when I closed it up for the night. My guess is something goofed up when changing power states, or maybe Windows applied some update that didn't require a reboot, and messed with the monitor config.

 

Indeed, what caused the problem in the first place is a good question.

Windows Updates can be quite intrusive, particularly since they keep running in the background even after several reboots, making it difficult to pinpoint when it is safe to clean up after them. I used to run CCleaner (Cleaner, NOT Registry) and Disk Cleanup shortly after completing Windows Updates, which cuts out several hundred MBs of dead meat. But starting around the time of Win8, Disk Cleanup happily deletes files that are still required for Windows Update tasks running in the background. I have experienced actual corruption of my Windows Installation by doing this. So now I am more cautious, and generally make an image backup of my Windows partition before installing large Windows Updates.

Still, unless the Windows Logs give you an indication, it is hard to track down what caused this problem on your laptop.

 

Hi,

My NP900X4D recently stopped working after someone [stupidly] bumped into while I was using it. It resulted in a tiny piece of the case breaking and the laptop not turning on anymore.

It then would turn on only sometimes when the screen was in a special position, and work flawlessly, unless the screen was touched/moved, a which point it would turn off. It would turn off just as if the laptopt *thought* the screen was closed, like if it would fall into sleep mode right away. Just a thought.

The screen doesn't work at all anymore, but the laptop now turns on every time. I opened it up and check if the wire from the screen (which I think might be the problem here) was damaged or something but couldn't see anything. No more guarantee on this product, it was bought summer 2013. Any ideas what could be causing this, and what I should do about it? If repair is worth it or not.

If I plug the charger, it lights up orange for charging until it's fully charged and the light is green.

Here is a photo of the damage to the casing and how the laptops turn on.

 

I wonder if there is damage to the cable supplying the display since it passes through one of the hinges.

This won't be an easy fix since the display isn't made to be dismantled. You may need to buy a complete display unit which would be an easy fix if it is supplied complete with hinges. It won't be cheap but will cost less than the computer is worth. Search Samsungparts.com for the part number which you can then use to search for better deals.

John

 

I couldn't find anything on samsungparts, but I found some on Ebay, and it goes for 300$. Considering I paid 800$ for this I'm not so sure I want to invest that much into it as it's almost 2 years old

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LCD-Screen-...031?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d44f2cf6f